Never seen anything but UTG straddle unfortunately. Anything 50/100 and below straddle is rare all rooms. Bigger games tend to set own rules to certain degree. I've seen out to at least quadruple straddle with option at Metro.

Lucky Fish (across from RW) both NLH and PLO typically 100/200/500. Double straddle allowed and has option.

How is the poker scene in Cebu? The island of Cebu seems for attractive to me compared to Manila... Despite the cheating you are talking about and the high rake, is it easy for a good live cash game player to make a decent living out there in Cebu or in Manila? Is there action and lots of tables running every day in Cebu in the different poker rooms?

I guess it happened when you entered the Philippines...Did they give you back that 2k later?

Fwiw the pics you see of cebu are very different from cebu city. The beaches near cebu are muddy holes in the ground, you need to travel to see anything decent. Not terribly far, but it's still a trip. Lots of recent posting about how games in cebu are dead, check the last few pages. I would not recommend anyone move to Philippines to play live.

Anyone a regular at lucky fish? I still haven't been. I'm curious if their 100 200 500 is actually running regularly, they always advertise it but when I ask of its actually running at that exact moment the answer has always been no.

I am doing a respectable hourly rate playing 2-5 in Montreal, Canada with the rake at 10% and 10$ max. Let's say that the level of players in Manila is more or less equivalent to the one in Montreal (as a filipino pro grinder living in Montreal told me), despite the higher rake in Manila it is hard for me to think that my hourly rate would drop down considerably while playing in Manila...or maybe am I wrong? Also I would like to know how safe it is to live and play live poker in Manila for a foreigner, while having on me a considerable amount of money late in the night. If I take a cab called by the casino to take me back home late in the night, I guess it is safe? The traffic seems crazy there also, I guess it takes a lot of time to travel from home to the casinos of Manila...

Oh really? Not even to play live at Manila? I though that Manila was like the best place to play live in Asia...do you have other suggestions of great places to play live in Asia (or anywhere else in the world outside of North America!?) then? Because of the cost of living in Macau and Singapore that seems very high, I am not so interested in theses locations...Thank you for your active participation in this forum Bluegrass!

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/92...-asia-1341013/

Carpe: I was specifically talking about a blind vs blind scenario, not the game in general. From what I've heard about the games in Canada I imagine they are a bit softer than Manila due to a larger player pool. I really think moving to Asia to play 2/5 or lower is a waste of time. Certainly wouldn't do it without coming here first, if you're really interested take a vacation and see how it goes.

I'd also make sure you have a significant sample size in your game, and your winrate is somewhat realistic. Swings are real.

PP is supposedly the best in Asia, but I'm not really sure I don't play much 2/5 or lower, it's a waste of time imo.

Its not really fair to say playing 2/5 is a waste of time as it's all relative to your other options in life.

eg. if you are a filipino and make a very very good salary it will be 1k a month, playing 2/5 live as a pro can earn you 2~4x that

also note worthy your spending power in manila is at least 3x any north american city

lucky fish has 1 2 500 running everyday, game usually starts around 6

I've explained why i feel this way several times already.

You play in it or have seen it? Or are you just going off their site/hosts?

Where is Lucky Fish...uh, which city I mean. ?

Not in the Philippines, the limit is 10k usd here. The point was that it is not $10k limit in all country. The money was not returned.

Pasay. Metro manila.

I have to agreed with Smuft..In country like myself (Indonesia)or Philippines,if you are proven winning player,even at $1/$2 level you can live comfortably here(or most SEA country)

My sample size is 800 hours of live playing. Is it significant enough for you?

''PP'' is for Philippines I guess?

Phnom Penh

Did you play a lot of live cash games in Philippines? If so I would like to hear what you think about the level of players and the danger related to having a lot of money on ourselves in Manila late at night at the exit of the casino...

Otherwise, am I wrong or there is no casino with NLHE in Indonesia?

800 hours isn't a meaningless sample, it's not optimally definitive either. That being said, just how telling it is of your long term win rate depends on a number of factors

-Are you an over all tight player or more on the loose side of things? A good lag will experience more extreme swings than a good nit will. He offsets this by likely having a higher win rate than the nit as well, but his downswings can be more harsh.

The nittier you are the closer you'll be to realizing your true winrate over 800 hours than a looser player will be.


Do you play short handed a lot, or are you a stickler who refuses to play when the game gets short?

The latter player will experience less intense swings than the former will, although once again he may have a lower win rate as well.


Those are two major factors that will help you determine just how meaningful your 800 sample is. There are others, but I'm not willing to share all of them (got to keep my edge at the tables after all )

In general though if you play a solid nit game and consistently are at 9 and 10 handed tables your swings will be much less intense than someone who plays a lot of hands in games that are often short handed. Thus the full ring nit will be much more likely to realize his long term win rate after 800 hours than the short handed lag will be.

So, which type are you?

Well imo making 30$/hour playing 2-5 is not a waste of time in America, and in the Philippines that hourly rate is surely very good salary and way above average...

Well I am closer to the nit side of the force most of the time, but I like to open with a wide variety of playable hands in middle or late position. Still I try to adapt my style to the type of players at the table of course. It is also not so rare to see me try a huge bluff with some marginal hands when I smell weakness (or think I smell it...)And that makes me realize how poorly my big bluffs have worked in general on the 2-5, maybe I should calm down a little bit on those and play a more ABC type of game on the 2-5...

Otherwise, I don't like to play short handed and don't play it often, unless there is a huge fish at a short handed table of course!

Ok, well what your win rate is over the 800 hours is also telling. If you are crushing it for 10 bb's + an hour than there is almost no way you aren't a long term winning player (although you may have a lower win rate in the long run,) if you are beating the game for only 2.5 bb's an hour there is a chance you are a long term break even or losing player, at the very least there are some major leaks in your game that need addressing asap.

If your win rate is somewhere in the middle of those two then well, it's somewhere in the middle.

All in all I'd say an 800 hour sample with a solid winrate at full ring llsnl when you play an overall standard tag game is pretty meaning full. '

More likely than not if you have a solid win rate over those 800 hours you are/will be a long term winning player.

Thank you for your feedback!

What do you mean by full ring ''llsnl''?

live low stakes no limit

I saw some people here say that the rake everywhere else outside of North America in the casinos is too high. It is hard for me to see what it really means in practice on the hourly rate of a winning player. What is ''too high'' for you and how should I expect that to have an impact on my hourly rate in general? In North America, let's say someone makes a 30$ hourly rate playing 2-5 with a 10% - 10$ max (true rake in Montreal, Canada). Let's say that same player now goes to play 2-5 in Manila (let's assume that the level of players is the same that in North America just for the example) where the rake is around 10% -16$ max. Sorry but it is hard for me to imagine that the hourly rate of that player made in America would drop down considerably because of that 6$ difference in the max rake...Also I have seen that in The Philippines in several casinos there is no tip to give to the dealers, which is not the case in Montreal. So I would guess that the hourly rate expected (if we assume once again that the level of players is the same) in Manila would be about the same as in Montreal, but I might be wrong...and what about a 5% max 20$ rake compared to a 10% max 10$? Is the first one that bad compared to the other?